• Sick leave begins in 2018. The accrual rate for sick leave is 1 hour for every 40 hours worked. Employees qualify for leave after 19 calendar days of working for an employer. Leave may be taken for a specific list of reasons, including care of a family member, or for safe leave. Carry- over is limited to 40 hours per year, but it would appear additional hours could be accrued per year over the 40.

• The initiative must have 246,372 signatures by July 8 to qualify for the November 2016 ballot.

retail grocery

• Vapor Products:

- Regulates e-cigarettes and vapor products in a similar method to tobacco products.

- Products are required to be kept in a restricted method in the store and inaccessible to minors without employee assistance.

- All laws and fees, including licensure, are preempted by state law.

- Impact to Industry: Increase in fees for tobacco licensure: increase from $93 to $175 per store; new vapor/tobacco combined license is created at $250 per store.

• SNAP Changes:

- Effective Feb. 1, 2017

- Expand issuance of benefits through 20th of each month (currently 1st through 10th)

Pharmacy

• Pharmacists Prescribing/Dispensing Contraceptives:

Pharmacy Quality Assurance Commission (formerly the Board of Pharmacy) will create a sticker to be placed at pharmacy sites with pharmacists that have drug therapy agreements to dispense contraceptives.

• PBM’s:

PBM’s will now be licensed by the Office of the Insurance Commissioner

PBM’s are required to provide pharmacies with a pricing list that reflects where a price of a drug was available and used as a determination for how they would reimburse the retail pharmacy

Larger pharmacies (more than 15 in-state locations) may provide information about efforts to appeal pricing to a PBM to the Office of the Insurance Commissioner for data collection and for the study contained in the bill.

Budget & Taxes

Supplemental Operating Budget• The final budget used existing funds and sweeps of various accounts to cover the budget shortfall; there were no tax increases.• 2017 budget is expected to be even more difficult. Washington State Supreme Court has ruled that the Legislature MUST increase funding to education, and that is expected to carry a $1 to $2 billion price tag. Those kinds of dollars can only be found by raising taxes, and it’s unclear how the House and Senate, with opposite parties in charge, will find a way to agree.